Our week ahead 03 - 07 October 2016

Tuesday 4 October
Executive Director, Mark Heywood will be deliver a talk to the pupils at St Peter’s School in the UK in which he will provide realistic insight into what life can be like for those who have been denied access to opportunities and as a result have fewer choices. He will also discuss SECTION27’s work and how the organisation aims to make a difference.

Wednesday 5 October
Attorney Sasha Stevenson will train journalists on the proposed sugar sweetened beverages tax as part of a workshop presented by the Healthy Living Coalition, HEALA. In the evening she will attend the Health-e citizen journalist awards

SLSJ Fellow Tina Power will attend the launch of the book, The International Criminal Court and Africa: One Decade On. Fatou Bensouda, the Prosecutor of International Criminal Court will deliver the key note address and Former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke will launch the book.

NSP Advocacy officer, Vuyokazi Gonyela will be meeting with Free State Civil Society Forum Chairperson, TAC Free State Manager and TAC Provincial Chairperson/ Sector leader of People Living with HIV/AIDS in the province. The purpose is to discuss strategy and logistics for NSP/PSP Advocacy and Indicators training for Provincial Civil Society Forum.

Thursday 6 October
Head of Litigation, Adila Hassim will address the National Good Governance Conference on a panel the topic of Constitutional powers of the Public Protector. The conference, themed “People Centered Clean Governance”, will be held as part of the activities to characterise the National Good Governance Week which will take place from 4-8 October 2016.

Tina Power will attend this year’s South African Young Scientists’ Conference. This year’s Conference is aligned to the 2016 African Union Year Theme, Year of Human Rights with Special Focus on Rights of Women. Panelist include; Retired Constitutional Court Judge Zak Yacoob, Member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, Prof Christof Heyns, Executive Director, Legal Resource Centre Ms Janet Love and Ms Shireen Said, Legal Advisor/Strategist, former Policy Advisor for Human Rights at UNDP. The panel will discuss: “Transformation towards Sex and Gender Equality in Africa: Where are we?”

Friday 7 October
Vuyokazi Gonyela will attend a planning meeting with Eastern Cape Civil Society leaders and secretariat members on decentralization of NSP/PSP advocacy trainings. Discussions happening at national level do not always make it to local level on time and service delivery gets compromised because people are not informed. EC Civil Society and Secretariat with support from SECTION27 is working towards breaking this norm by prioritising empowerment and capacitation of district civil society forums at Amathole District, Buffalo City Metro, Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, Sarah Baartman District and Chris Hani district.

Tina Power will be attending a meeting at the Children’s Institute in Cape Town. Over the past four years’ violence against children and child protection has been a major focus of the Children’s Institute’s research, and their findings have revealed a deep crisis. We will be discussing strategies for using their findings to bring about change.

Saturday 8 October
Attorney Kate Patterson and Tina Power will host a sexual violence workshop with the Katlehong Local AIDS Council and the Leratong Child Rescue Advisory Centre